Lufthansa CEO says no end in sight to burning through cash

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Lufthansa is burning cash at a rate of 500 million euros ($590 million) per month and is far from breaking even, the German airline’s chief executive said on Monday.

Speaking at an event run by the BDI association of German industrial companies in Berlin, Carsten Spohr said the airlines group, hit by Europe’s worsening coronavirus situation, was hoping to stop the outflow of cash once it reached a utilisation rate of about 50% for seat capacity.

“That is absolutely not foreseeable. We are happy if we can reach 20% during winter,” he added.

Lufthansa, which in June received a 9 billion euro government bailout, last month announced further cuts to its fleet and workforce along with a 1.1 billion euro impairment on idled aircraft.

Spohr added on Monday he was certain the group would weather the crisis.

(Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach; Writing by Ludwig Burger and Mark Potter)